Friday, May 15, 2009

The Abyssinia Coffee Tour

A guided trolley pusher tour of Joubert Park and the Fashion District:

Trolley Works guided city tours celebrate the vibrancy, informality and cultural diversity present in down town Johannesburg. Tours begin in Joubert Park at the Drill Hall, an important historical landmark in our country’s history, and winds its way along the sidewalks between Noord and Park City taxi ranks. One can expect to see ‘bad buildings’, street markets and meander through dense pedestrian traffic; hear the beat of wedding songs, fashion diva’s and Africa’s rhythm; smell the aromas of Mozambican stew, braaied kebabs and fast food.

An astonishing amount of money is exchanged in this area daily through innovative informal business practices. A key feature of Joubert Park is the high density of people and traffic. Our tour highlights the challenges for a rapidly urbanizing African City. We hope to expose people to the urban contradictions present in the city and are attempting to address the need to walk in the downtown area of Johannesburg. Walking in Johannesburg is strongly linked to class, race, crime, fear and paranoia. The proposed tours attempt to address these challenges, whilst getting people thinking and contributing to a conversation related to the politics of public space in the city.

Trolley Works is a multi-disciplinary art project dedicated to the acknowledgment of the informal economic activities and cultural diversity present in our city. Come meet our team, have a laugh, walk the streets and experience the best coffee in the world.

Booking a tour

Tours run Monday to Saturday at 10h30 and again at 14h00

Tour duration: 2 hours

Price: R150 per person (Students and pensioners pay R100), contact us for special group tour prices – Prices include freshly made Ethiopian coffee.

Sylt Quelle Cultural Award for Southern Africa

The Trolleyworks.org project was initiated by Johannesburg based artist Ismail Farouk as part of the Sylt Quelle Cultural Award for Southern Africa 2008. The first phase of the Trolleyworks project began in December 2008, and is proposed to run until May 2009.